Many Star Trek fans who are viewing Enterprise for the first time—or those who are returning for a rewatch after many years—ask us for episode recommendations. They want to know which episodes best represent the spirit of Enterprise. In this episode of Warp Five, hosts Christopher Jones and Kate Walsh share their picks for the stories that best capture the tone of the show, its goal in bridging the gap between our own time and the early days of Starfleet as well as the gap between Archer’s time and Kirk’s, and that plant the seeds for the Star Trek that we all know and love. Did we choose any of your favourites?

Each series has its signature villain, though it may not be the foe originally intended to be the thorn in our heroes’ sides. The Ferengi were set up as the baddies on TNG. On Voyager it was the Kazon. And on DS9 it was… Rumpelstiltskin? When Archer set off on his first mission aboard the NX-01 he crossed paths with the flexible, yellow-skinned antagonists of Enterprise—the Suliban. In this episode of Warp Five, hosts Christopher Jones and Kate Walsh examine the Suliban to uncover their role in the series, how well they were utilised, whether they were terrorists or pawns, and if they were creatively at odds with the basic concept of the show.

Before there was Picard, Sisko, Janeway, or even Kirk, there was Archer. When it came to casting the captain of Starfleet’s first Warp 5 vessel, Scott Bakula was the more than just a person of interest—he was the prize. And they got him. Despite his established geek cred as Quantum Leap’s Sam Beckett, reception of Bakula’s Jonathan Archer by fans and media was lukewarm. In this episode of Warp Five, hosts Christopher Jones and Kate Walsh take a close look at Captain Archer, his role in leading Earth into the galactic community, and why Scott Bakula was the ideal choice for portraying a leader who is naturally much more like us than the intrepid leaders of the 23rd and 24th centuries.

He started his career with Star Trek as an intern on The Next Generation and went on to become one of the most influential creatives behind the evolution of the franchise, penning the classic “All Good Things…” as well as Generations and First Contact before moving on to Voyager. Brannon Braga is responsible for some of Star Trek’s most memorable voyages, and in 2000 he teamed up with Rick Berman to develop the most unique of the Star Trek series—a prequel called simply Enterprise. In this episode of Warp Five, hosts Christopher Jones and Kate Walsh are joined by Brannon to discuss the creation of Enterprise, the handling of the Vulcans, the challenge of writing a prequel, and we even learn about the original ending of the fan favourite “Dear Doctor.”